The Greatest Tale (Or: Two Kids on an Epic Quest to Save the World)

Chapter Seven

(I suggest you play the music...)

Running down the narrow street, the entire group prepared to storm the woods and take down the fortress. Tu'f however, desired to see his father for one last time, so he walked back to the shed to say goodbye. Even though he snuck out, he still wanted to see his father one last time.

When he arrived, however, the shed was alive with red-hot flames. Uttering a girlish shriek, he dashed towards the shack. When he arrived, Tu'f tripped over the body of his father and fell flat on his face, breaking his nose in the process. Blood streaming down his face, he crawled to his father.

"Father? Father!"

His father made a weak effort to open his eyes. "Tu'f? I thought you left..."

"Yes, but I'm back now father. I'm here. Stay alive for me please."

His father said nothing. Straining, ignoring the falling pieces of burning wood, wishing that the sweet release of death would come soon so that he wouldn't have to take part in this miserable plot anymore, he sighed. "Well, sing it."

Tu'f looked disgusted. "You're joking, right?"

"No...no I'm not." His father broke off into a fit of coughing, then continued. "This is the point in the sad musical that the child sings about not wanting his parent to leave him."

Tu'f said nothing. He wondered if he should break the unfortunate news to his dying parent. "Father..."

"Wait," his father coughed, "I have something for you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded scrap of paper. "On this page...I've written my final confession. Read it well...when I'm sleeping."

"Father please, you must live!" Tu'f said, snatching the paper and casting it into the flames. "We'll leave here together. We'll even go on a quest together."

His father stared into the flames, watching the piece of paper burn. "Well, I suppose you'll never learn about your true heritage" he said, then faded away.

Barely registering these words, Tu'f suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion. How does one become so emotionally attached to a parent one never spends time with? He wandered away from the burning building, still lost in thought.

"Well...how'd it go?" asked Du'ling.

"He's gone," Tu'f said, "And I may have just burned all knowledge about my true parents."

"Do you really need to know?" Du'ling asked, watching the flames grow higher, into the night.

Tu'f said nothing. In a pose designed to make the hero seem more imposing, (which I won't describe to you, because you all need to use your imaginations when reading a book), he stared off into the night. (Yes, they both liked to do that. It was all the rage in hero's journey novels.)